Buenos Aires, Argentina, Mar 10, 2010 / 12:56 pm (CNA).- A federal judge in Buenos Aires has nullified the “marriage” of two gay men that took place last week in the Argentinian capital, saying “no elements existed” for the union to constitute a marriage.

On Monday, Judge Felix Gustavo de Igarzabal of Buenos Aires reversed a decision which allowed two gay men to marry at the city's civil registry office on March 3. In his ruling the judge said no marriage took place “because of the absence of the institution’s structural elements,” in this case a man and a woman, and thus declared the act to be invalid.

He also said any “legal effects derived from the act shall be suspended.”

The judge ordered the two men to turn in any marriage licenses or documentation received from the civil registry office within 72 hours or face monetary penalties.